The Alexander Hamilton Bridge is an eight-lane steel arch bridge that carries traffic over the

Harlem River The Harlem River is an tidal strait in New York City, flowing between the Hudson River and the East River and separating the island of Manhattan from the Bronx on the United States mainland. The northern stretch, also called the Spuyten Duyvi ...

between the boroughs of

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

and the

Bronx The Bronx ( ) is the northernmost of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It shares a land border with Westchester County, New York, West ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. The bridge connects the

Trans-Manhattan Expressway Interstate 95 (I-95) is part of the Interstate Highway System and runs from Miami, Florida, to the Canada–United States border near Houlton, Maine. In the US state of New York, I-95 extends from the George Washington Bridge in New Yor ...

in the Washington Heights section of Manhattan with the

Cross Bronx Expressway The Cross Bronx Expressway is a major controlled-access highway, freeway in the New York City borough of the Bronx. It is mainly designated as part of Interstate 95 in New York, Interstate 95 (I-95), but also includes portions of Interstate ...

as part of

Interstate 95 Interstate 95 (I-95) is the main north–south Interstate Highway on the East Coast of the United States, running from U.S. Route 1 (US 1) in Miami, Florida, north to the Houlton–Woodstock Border Crossing between Maine and the ...

(I-95) and U.S. Route 1 (US 1). The bridge opened to traffic on January 15, 1963, the same day that the Cross Bronx Expressway was completed. For 2011, the

New York City Department of Transportation The New York City Department of Transportation (NYCDOT) is the agency of the government of New York City responsible for the management of much of New York City's transportation infrastructure. Ydanis Rodriguez is the Commissioner of the Departm ...

, which operates and maintains the bridge, reported an

average daily traffic Annual average daily traffic (AADT) is a measure used primarily in transportation planning, transportation engineering and retail location selection. Traditionally, it is the total volume of vehicle traffic of a highway or road for a year divided ...

(ADT) volume in both directions of 182,174, having reached a peak ADT of 192,848 in 1990.

Design

The total length of the bridge, including approaches, is . Its parallel main spans are long and provide of vertical clearance over the Harlem River at the center and of horizontal clearance. The bridge design included a set of spiraling ramps (officially known as the Highbridge Interchange and colloquially known as "The Corkscrew") to connect to and from the Major Deegan Expressway (completed in 1964) and a

viaduct A viaduct is a specific type of bridge that consists of a series of arches, piers or columns supporting a long elevated railway or road. Typically a viaduct connects two points of roughly equal elevation, allowing direct overpass across a wide ...

ramp connecting to

Harlem River Drive Harlem River Drive is a 4.20-mile (6.76 km) controlled-access highway, controlled-access Parkways in New York, parkway in the New York City borough of Manhattan. It runs along the west bank of the Harlem River from the Triborough Bridge in ...

, both of which are over below the level of the bridge, and access to Amsterdam Avenue.

History

After the

George Washington Bridge The George Washington Bridge is a double-decked suspension bridge spanning the Hudson River, connecting Fort Lee in Bergen County, New Jersey, with the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. It is named after George W ...

, which connects

and

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

was completed in 1931, vehicles traveling between New Jersey and

The Bronx The Bronx ( ) is the northernmost of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It shares a land border with Westchester County, New York, West ...

would travel over the Washington Bridge, which crosses the

just north of the present Alexander Hamilton Bridge. The Alexander Hamilton Bridge was planned in the mid-1950s to connect

Robert Moses Robert Moses (December 18, 1888 – July 29, 1981) was an American urban planner and public official who worked in the New York metropolitan area during the early to mid-20th century. Moses is regarded as one of the most powerful and influentia ...

' proposed Trans-Manhattan and Cross-Bronx Expressways and to accommodate the additional traffic resulting from the addition of the six-lane lower level to the George Washington Bridge. With the

Interstate The Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways, commonly known as the Interstate Highway System, or the Eisenhower Interstate System, is a network of controlled-access highways that forms part of the National H ...

designation, 90% of the $21 million in construction costs were covered by the federal government. The bridge opened on January 15, 1963. Starting in 2009, the bridge underwent a full renovation. China Construction America received the $407 million contract for the project. While the traffic jams created from the construction had not been as bad as local officials had anticipated, inbound delays at the Hudson River crossings increased after the project began. In July 2014, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced that the bridge renovation was complete.

References

External links

New York State Department of Transportation
- Alexander Hamilton Bridge Project
NYC Roads: Alexander Hamilton Bridge
* *

*[https://205.156.4.52/cgi-bin/EyeSpy.dll?getbrww&D:/EyeSpy/images/Online_Chart_Viewer/12342.axs&750&550&1216&3296&2&bgcolor=%23FFFFFF&buttons=/cgi-bin/EyeSpyResources/buttons&alig=0&contenttype=image/jpeg&375&275 Nautical Chart #12342] NOAA. {{Alexander Hamilton Open-spandrel deck arch bridges in the United States Historic American Engineering Record in New York City U.S. Route 1 [ ategory:Interstate 95 Bridges completed in 1963 Washington Heights, Manhattan Bridges in Manhattan Robert Moses projects Bridges in the Bronx Road bridges in New York City Bridges on the Interstate Highway System Bridges of the United States Numbered Highway System Bridges over the Harlem River Steel bridges in the United States Morris Heights, Bronx

Design

History

See also

References

External links